Through the years, the sport of water skiing has become increasingly popular among water sport enthusiasts. While styles of water skiing and the types of equipment used vary somewhat, water skiing may be generalized as the activity in which a skiier is supported on a single ski or pair of skis and is pulled across the surface of the water by a tow rope attached to a power boat. The skier skims the water surface on the skis and is able to move relative to the power boat to some degree. While the primarly intended activity of the water skier is that of skimming or riding across the water surface, necessarily the skier begins by resting in the water and assumes the starting position in which the skis are extended nearly vertically in the water and the skier grasps the tow rope and the power boat is at idle. During this interval of time, the skier floats with only his or her head and the top of his or her shoulders above the water. The ski run is initiated by the pilot of the boat excelerating with sufficient power to pull the skier into the upright skiing position. In addition to thise starting procedure being utilized at the beginning of any skiers activity, frequently skiers are subject to falling during the skiing process. In such event, the skier releases the tow rope and comes to rest within the water and if necessary, retrieves his or her skis and waits for the return of the boat. In the meantime, the pilot of the boat having become aware of the skiers fall makes a large looping turn with the tow rope trailing behind and returns to the skier whereupon the above-described starting position is assumed and the skier is once again pulled into the upright position during the starting procedure.
In a somewhat similar activity, the sport or jet skiing has become increasingly popular in recent years. Unlike conventional water skiing, jet skiing is undertaken with a motorized jet ski device which in essence is similar to a small powered boat adapted to be steered and driven by one or more standing jet skiers. In jet skiing, the entire motorized jet ski is driven across the surface of the water in a skimming action and unlike conventional water skiing in which a skier is towed behind the power boat, the jet ski is riden across the water surface by one or more standing jet skiers. Frequently, jet skiers lose their balance or suffer some mishap which results in the jet skier falling into the water and being separated from the powered jet ski device. Generally, during such falls the jet ski device, due to its power and momentum, carries forward some small distance from the jet skier and thereafter automatically initiates a programmed slow circuling motion intended by its design to bring the jet ski slowly back to the jet skier. For safety reasons the programmed circular travel of the jet ski is undertaken at an extremely slow speed. As a result, there is a frequently some time spent by the jet skier awaiting the return of the jet ski.
Because both the sports of water skiing and jet skiing are frequently participated in water ways used by power boats, including high speed power boats, the participants in water skiing and jet skiing are subject to similar hazards which arise during the time they spend floating in the water. While jet skiers and water skiers are highly visible and highly mobile when traveling across the water surface and are therefore likely to be seen by other power boat pilots and may readily be capable of avoiding collision with such power boats, when resting in the water they are difficult to see and experience difficulty in moving out of harms way. As a result, a water skier or jet skier floating in the water is subject to substantial risk of being struck by other speeding power boats.
Some attempts have been made to reduce this risk through the use of brightly colored life jackets, hats or vests by jet skiers and water skiers. While such measures result in some increase in the visibility of water skiers and jet skiers while resting in the water, the problem continues to be the extremely low profile which the skier presents to other boats.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an improved safety factor for water skiers and jet skiers while floating between skiing runs which does not unduly encumber or interfere with the jet skier or water skiers normal activities.